


Rey is Cranky & Dr. Ben Solo is Not a Very Fungi

by AnneNEmity



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Fusion, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, F/M, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Not Related, Rey Needs A Hug, Sex Pollen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:34:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23524705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnneNEmity/pseuds/AnneNEmity
Summary: Rey helps Rose move into a new apartment after a bad breakup, and inadvertently gets assaulted by her besties' mom's passive-aggressive sex pollen gift.  Her workday is far more exciting than usual.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 23
Kudos: 88
Collections: House Dadam Miscellaneous, Rey/Ben Solo, Reylo, Reylo modern!AU trash, Sex Pollen to the Rescue, reylo trash





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's late and I'm tired and I'll edit this a million times tomorrow. Apologies for any typos and let me know if anyone wants to beta for me in the future <3

“Where do you want this one?” Rey panted as she kicked open the door, cringing slightly as it struck the wall too forcefully behind it. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. The last flight of stairs had nearly killed her. It was time to get back to training soon. “Rose, Love, any time. Rather weighty, this.” She propped the box on her left hip and rested it on top of the sofa, waiting for Rose to pull her head out of the fridge and acknowledge her existence. 

“Hmm?” Rose asked, emerging with string cheese in one hand and a Capri Sun in the other. Her hard-won independence was already paying off. No parents or overbearing boyfriends to tell her what she could and could not eat anymore. “Oh, anywhere is fine. I’ll have to go through each one anyway. Thank you again for all of your help!” She skipped across the kitchen and extended her hand towards Rey, offering up the cheese stick like a small dairy baton. 

Rey accepted it, peeled the plastic away and extended it back to her best friend, “Cheers!” She shouted before falling back onto the sofa. 

“Cheers!” Rose replied, taking a bite out of the top of the cheese with a grin. 

“You’re supposed to peel it.” Rey laughed, demonstrating the proper string cheese technique. “See?” She asked, before dangling a pathetic string over her head and eating it.

“Yeah but then your fingers get all over it, and it gets hot, and just…no.” Rose replied before taking another bite.

“Ugh. You’re the weirdest.” Rey replied, sitting back up and crossing her legs under her. “Ok, what else can I help with? My shift starts soon, and I’ll need to go straight there.” She looked down at her scrubs, scuffed and wrinkled a bit from her various trips up and down the stairs, but no one at the hospital was going to be assessing her attire. Except maybe Marcy, that girl was gunning for her to get written up.

“Um,” Rose looked around at the various towers of boxes surrounding her living room. She pursed her lips and bulged her eyes before plopping down on the sofa next to Rey. “I mean. This is pretty much my life now. This is me. I’ll be here, going through all of these boxes…until my dying breath” She looked around again, her earlier excitement turning to something that looked a bit like anxiety.

“Yes, it is, girl. It is your life, and you are free to do whatever the heck you want!” Rey squealed as she grabbed her friend’s arm and shook her back and forth. Rose broke out into her wide grin again and began to chuckle.

“Damn straight.” 

Rey stood up and stretched, her joints popping slightly from use and exhaustion. She wasn’t sure how she was going to survive a shift after the day she’s had already. She wouldn’t, without coffee. 

“Ok, I’m off, then. I love you!” Rey called back to her friend over the stack of boxes precariously perched by the door. 

“Love you more! Give ‘em hell, southern Belle!” Rose’s voice called back. 

“Dukes up, Buttercup!”

The door clicked quietly behind her, right as Rey noticed another cardboard box just outside. She lifted the box and turned the door handle, which had auto-locked behind her. She knocked and waited as she heard Rose stumbling around inside. 

“What is this?” She asked aloud, pulling open the side panel for a look inside. 

“Oh, shit! No, Rey don’t!” Rose called out before slamming the door shut in between them. 

“Rose.” Rey growled at the closed door. “What the hell was that?” She asked, looking down at the once brown cardboard box that had detonated in her arms, emitting a reddish-gold powder in all directions for a five-foot radius. Including her hair, face, and scrubs she was forced to wear for the next ten hours. 

“Um….” Rose mumbled from behind the closed door. “Ok, so don’t be mad…But my mum sent me this, as a gift…. It’s a Saccharomyces cerevisiae….”

“I don’t know what that word means…in English please?"

“It’s some sort of plant that helps for when I was ready to um… start dating again.”

Rey took a deep breath and closed her eyes to try and calm the wave of rage filling her. She did not like where this is going. 

“What sort of plant is this, Rose? And more importantly, how do I get it off me…Immediately.” 

“It’s more like a root…. fungi?” She said, her sentence ending in more of a question than an answer. “It’s meant to like, exaggerate a person’s emotions to help with better communication or something. Honestly, I was half paying attention when she was blabbering on about it. But she did say it was important to keep it in the closed box…until I was…you know, ready.”

“Ok, just so I’m sure I’m tracking here…” Rey started.

“Mhmmmm” Rose’s voice and irritating smile carried clearly through the closed door.

“Your mum sent you an emotional toadstool, to keep hidden in a box until you were ready to get back on the ole horse? That about right?”

“Something like that, yes. But she said it would increase over time, and that puppy’s only been in there for like what? Three days? It’s probably super juvenile. You should just be able to dust yourself off and be totally fine.”

Rey sucked her lips between her teeth to keep from screaming. She had only been a nurse at the new hospital for two months and was just finally starting to get into a rhythm. The other nurses were talking to her and even inviting her to lunch. The doctors were still ignoring her or having her complete the most remedial tasks under the suns, but she was starting to feel like she fit in. Now she was going to be late for her shift and will probably get written up for her scrubs being bedazzled with mood-enhancing fungi. 

“Sooo… you still love me, right?” Rose called out from behind the door, stifling a giggle. 

“I do. I also hate your mother, but I love you.” Rey put the box down and folded the lid back in, making sure to shoot a deadly glare at the offending set of orangish roots spread out within the box. She was sure the plant was very hurt by her rage. 

“Your libido mold is back in its cage. Talk to you in ten hours when everyone at the hospital as probably killed and eaten me.”

“Ok, talk to you then!” She called back, no longer holding back the laugher she’d been staying off. 

"Mother F…." Rey grumbled to herself, knocking more shimmering powder from her scrubs as she entered the hospital. She had shaken out her hair outside and recreated her three buns before entering the building. This made her even later, but she couldn’t exactly go in there looking like an Oompa Loompa. 

She probably shouldn’t have stopped for coffee, but she literally would have fallen asleep standing up without it. Besides, the man at the coffee shop had been especially friendly and gave her usual drink for free. The woman working the cash register did not seem as enthusiastic about the unwarranted altruism. 

“Jakku, you’re late for rounds.” Marcy barked out from behind her desk. She looked especially formidable today, with one phone up to her ear, and two hands with exceptionally long nails clicking loudly away at her keyboard. “Badge?” She held out her hand and Rey dropped it into her hand as she ran into the locker room to store her stuff. “What is this?” Marcy asked, wiping orange pollen from the badge before sliding it into the reader.

“That’s why I’m late I had a … situation.” She replied, speeding past Marcy to get to the locker room.

“Achoo!” Marcy grabbed a tissue and blew her nose dramatically. “I wish I cared.” Marcy barked back, “Some of us want to actually get out of here on time you know?” Her voice shifted from apathetic to frantic, “Not everything is about you!”

“Woah, Marcy. I’m sorry. I didn’t even know my schedule affected you. Are you feeling ok?” Rey asked from the back of the locker room, Marcy shook her head in confusion. 

“I’m…I’m fine. I don’t know… Look just, call next time if you’re going to be late ok? Poe was looking for you so he could go home.” She handed back her badge and Rey clipped it on the front of her light blue scrubs. 

“Got it. No problem.” Rey walked quickly by Marcy and headed out to do her rounds. It was well known that Marcy had the hots for Poe, so I guess it sort of makes sense for her to fly off the handle if he can’t leave on time. But fifteen minutes didn’t really seem like that huge of a deal. 

“Hey Rey!” Poe looked up from his clipboard with a smile. “How’s it going?” Poe was always easy going and friendly, part of Rey wished they actually had the chance to work together sometimes, he was the easiest to get along without of all of the nurses. 

“Um…fine. I’m having a day. I’m sorry to make you late getting off, I had a situation.”

“Hey, it’s totally fine.” Poe put the clipboard back on the hook and leaned a hip alongside Rey. “Want to talk about it?” He reached a hand out and placed it lightly on her shoulder. She smiled and stepped around him to snag the clipboard.

“No, thanks. It’s all good. I’ve got it from here.” She started to scan the docs for the day. After determining which medications needed to be administered yet, she checked her watch and made a mental note of the order in which she should check her patients. She was scanning the paperwork for her assigned doctor for the day when Poe interrupted her focus. 

“Rey, listen.” Poe pushed off from the wall and stepped forward, his bright blue eyes shimmering around wide pupils focused intently on her. “Why don’t you let me take you out sometime? We could grab a few drinks, maybe go dancing?” He stepped closer, crossing the invisible barrier between work acquaintance who makes funny jokes at the coffee machine, and personal space.

“Oh...um. That’s super nice, I just…. I don’t date people that I work with.” Rey rocked back on her heels, creating a bit more space and dropped her attention back to the clipboard. She felt Poe’s eyes burning into her. 

“We always have opposite shifts, right? Technically we don’t really work…”

“Dameron, you’re off the clock, right?” a curt voice broke in, “Please stop distracting Ms. Jakku, she tends to struggle with her attention span without your prattling on.” Rey took another step back from Poe, her back straightening at the sound of the deep voice behind her. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. 

She could escape this. She just needed to turn around and walk right by him.

He was just prick. Most surgeons are. She didn’t need to engage.

“Problem, Mr. Dameron?” Doctor Solo drawled. Rey could see him scrolling on his phone out of the corner of her eye. 

“No, problem Doctor,” Poe replied through clenched teeth. His face had reddened, and his fists were clenched at his sides. “Let me know, Rey. I promise you it would be fun.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I’m going to have to pass.” She tipped her head in farewell and walked quickly down the hallway away from the incessant flirt and the unbelievable asshat. 

She’d thought she was free when she realized she was still holding the clipboard at the end of the hall. Internally berating herself, she made the walk of shame back down the hall, praying that Solo has moved on to his next set of victims to verbally assault. 

“Your scrubs are dirty.” His voice carried out of the small supply closet to the right of the clipboard stand. 

No luck on escaping the daily chastising then.

“Yes, sir.” She replied, hanging up the clipboard. Her eyes trailed down the paper, searching for the doctor’s name she’d be assisting for the shift. Whoever filled out this paperwork did it all wrong. It shouldn’t be this hard…

“Did you just short-circuit, or can I help you find something?” Doctor Solo was now standing beside her, looking up at the clipboard and feigning interest. His chest was radiating heat into her arm, and Rey took another steadying breath to ignore her quickening pulse at this proximity.

He’s an asshole. 

He is condescending.

He is fucking gorgeous. 

She rolled her eyes and took a step away from him. “Whoever filled out the paperwork today isn’t very thorough.” She pointed to the corner of the paper, “They are supposed to include the resident doctor who the nurses on this floor are assisting.” 

“Ah, well I apologize for my incomplete documentation, Ms. Jakku. My attending nurse decided it was acceptable to show up to work twenty minutes late to rounds and in dirty scrubs, so I neglected to write my own name on the paperwork.” He reached across her and scribbled on the edge of the paper. 

S O L O.

His hand brushed her arm as he brought it back to his side, his back straightened, and his body shivered.

“Sir… Are you…woah. Are you alright?” Rey reached out an instinctive hand to steady him as he wobbled. She wasn’t sure how she would catch a man of his size, but she couldn’t in good conscience leave him to collapse. 

“I…uh...” Doctor Solo stared at Rey for a moment before trying again. “I think I need to sit.” 

“Um, sure.” Rey took his arm and led him into the open room behind them. She helped him sit in a chair before leaving and getting him a cup of water. When she returned, he had leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. His broad chest heaving as he took large gulps of air.

Funny…he almost looked normal when he was having a panic attack, or whatever this was.

“Here you go.” Rey whispered, setting the small paper cup into his huge hands. 

She’d never noticed how big his hands were before. Her cheeks flushed as she wondered the dimensions of other body parts. 

“Thank you.” His voice was husky like he’d just woken up from a nap. His eyes were clear, but his pupils were blown out and fixated on Rey. 

“Can I get you anything else? Otherwise, I should really start on my rounds.” Rey took a step backward towards the door, hoping to escape the intense stare Doctor Solo was still giving her. 

“How long have you been working here now, Ms. Jakku?” Doctor Solo asked, his head leaned back against the wall once more. His long legs were stretched out in front of him, and the small guest chair was creaking under the weight of the massive human it bore. 

“Maybe two months?”

Solo let out a loud sigh. He pushed back in his chair, the front two legs coming off the ground. His white lab coat opened around him, showing his fitted slacks, crisp button-up shirt, and tie, all black as night. He crumpled the paper cup in his hand and threw it across the room, it landed in the bin after banking off the edge. 

Doctor Solo leaned forward in the chair, plopping the chair’s legs back onto the ground with a squeak before scrubbing his massive hands over his face and up into this hair. His black locks looked unruly. Rey found it unsettling to see him out of his usual control. “Two months.” He whispered into his hands. 

“Sir?”

“You’ve been torturing me for two months, Rey.” He mumbled this into his hands again, not looking up as Rey took a step towards him.

“Torturing you? I’m pretty sure you’ve been doing everything in your power to make my life miserable. How have I been…” 

Solo pushed up from the chair and crossed the room in three quick strides. He stood before Rey, towering above her, his eyes fixated on her lips. “For two months you’ve been roving around here with your tight ass and your perky breasts, causing disorganization and distractions.” He’d stepped closer, and Rey stepped back, her ass bumping up against the bed behind them, she placed a hand behind her to steady herself, but her world had been upended.

She panted lightly, trying to steady her breath. “But you’ve always been so rude, Doctor Solo…” 

“Ben.” He interrupted, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind Rey’s ear and tracing her jawline with a massive pointer finger.

“Umm. Okay, Ben.” She fidgeted at the informality before finding her resolve once more. Her eyes fluttered close momentarily as he traced her jaw, down her throat and over her collar bone. “You’re rude, Ben.” She replied, tilting her head up with a smirk. She took a step forward, forcing him to back up a step. “You’re overcritical, cruel and despite being disturbingly attractive and a surgical genius, you are sort of the worst.”

“Disturbingly attractive.” He muttered, his full lips quirking up on the corner. “Tell me more about this…Or the surgical genius part.”

“Well, at the moment, you’re having trouble standing upright on your own, so the surgical genius part is out.” Ben chuckled in response, and Rey continued. “And the disturbingly attractive bit is also on hold, as you’re now rocking the scruffy-looking nerf herder look…” She reached up and tugged at this hair without thinking, and Ben sucked in a breath. She let her hand trace down his face before falling back to her side.

“Who’s scruffy looking?” He whispered, his full lips sucking her in like a tractor beam. 

“I don’t date people I work with…” She said, his face inches from hers. She said the words but silently hoped he would ignore them. Every inch of her was on fire. She could smell his cologne and the mint gum he’d been chewing moments before. 

“Did I mention you’re fired?” He replied with a smile, his eyes locked on her lower lip. His massive hands settled on her hips, his thumbs resting on her hip bones and fingers reached back to her ass cheeks. He spun them and pushed Rey gently against the wall behind them. Rey’s stomach fluttered in response. She sucked her lip between her teeth as her core clenched. Ben stifled a groan and pressed the front of his body to hers. “Fuck…” he hissed through clenched teeth. 

Rey’s eyes widened as she felt Ben’s massive erection pressed against her. His hips were moving slightly, applying and rescinding pressure to his cock over and over. Rey’s eyes locked with his and watched as his expression changed from amusement to lust. Rey shifted, her scrubs rubbing gently over her sensitive core and she trembled. 

“Rey…” He groaned and he pressed into her again, his expression wild.

“Just shut up and kiss me.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey battles the temptation of a potentially career shattering mistake. 
> 
> Ben gets hot and even more bothered than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay... soooo, first: apologies for making you wait almost a year for chapter two. I actually had no intention of continuing this, but my partner read it and began showering me with effusive praise, so I had to finish it off...pun intended.
> 
> Second, there will be four chapters total, with a staggered release (can't stop/won't stop) just to taunt you <3 
> 
> Major thank you to my amazingly detailed and EXTRA epic Beta, MotherofScavengers.

Ben’s mouth crashed onto hers, punching the air out of her lungs and shoving all logic and self-preservation out of her brain.

They were fire. All nerve endings and panted breaths. Where she ended, he began; large hands exploring pale flesh in a frenzy as if he feared she’d change her mind any second. Her mouth opened with a gasp and his tongue swept in, dancing with hers before he sucked her lower lip between his teeth with a grunt. Ben trailed kisses from her lip to her jaw, down her throat to her shoulder. Teeth and tongue traced a fiery trail back up where he claimed her mouth again.

He was substantially taller than her, yet somehow, they fit. He pulled her closer, wrapping strong arms around her, grasping her ass, then lifting, her legs wrapping around his waist instinctually. One hand clasped her ass, the other found its way up her scrubs and under her bra, which he unhooked with zero effort.

Rey snorted, due to his appearance, she assumed his experience far surpassed hers and was unsurprised at the ease in which he disrobed his partners, but Ben didn’t slow. Trimmed nails lightly scratched down her back, leaving a trail of goosebumps, then eased around the front to her breasts. A soft moan escaped as he squeezed one tit in his large hands, shifting between feeling the soft skin, to pinching her nipple between surgically accurate fingers. His hand moved south, tracing over her abdomen and teasing the drawstring of her pants. She groaned as her hips ground into his, the jarring motion and excruciating tidal wave of desire breaking the trance.

“Wait…” She gasped, unhitching her legs before sliding down his body, away from his magical fingers and pushing him against the wall with an arm. “Wait. Just…. cool it, a minute. I need to think.” She would never admit a similar progression of events had played out in her mind a few...hundred...times before over the last few months, late at night when she couldn’t sleep and needed a release, but living it real-time was far more intense than she’d imagined.

Ben nodded, panting, while his hands still reached for her, finding curves and squeezing experimentally until she batted him away. He chuckled, fisting his hands into his dark locks and tugging in frustration. His dark eyes still devoured her, and she fought the constant inner voice telling her to rip off his stupid clothes, lick his stupid abs, and fuck his stupid brains out. Consequences be damned.

But the consequences were severe.

It could cost her her job. Her career, even.

Everyone knew that an inter-hospital romance was a terrible idea. Things rarely ended in wedding bells, and when they inevitably went tits up, you were stuck on weekly rotations with a person whose dick was well acquainted with the back of your throat.

 _Worth it,_ a little voice hissed. 

Still, she pushed out the words she didn’t wholeheartedly agree with. “We can’t… I can’t do this.”

Rey sighed as she attempted to smooth out her tangled hair. She took another deep breath, trying to calm the heartbeat that she could feel in at least three different parts of her body, pulsating like a homing beacon.

Because _can_ and _ought to_ were very different things…

Ben sucked in a large breath, his massive frame rising and falling, and her brain released a rapid-fire spank bank montage of what his chest would look like if she were riding him. “I’m going to need at least seven very compelling reasons why, ranked in order of importance, I shouldn’t rip those scrubs off your body and take you right here.” He nodded in the direction of the small cot in the room.

Rey chuckled at the mental image of this mountain man trying to fit in the tiny bed.

“Bed dimensions are irrelevant; I would make it work,” he stated, seeming to read her mind.

Grasping her hips once more, she allowed Ben to pull her closer, enjoying the feel of his strong fingers as they pressed into the thin material at her sides.

“This isn’t real. You don’t feel this way,” she said, giving a voice to the growing guilt in her mind. “You’re basically drugged.”

“Excuse me?” He dropped his hands, his eyebrows crashing together. “I have never done a drug in my life.”

“This… _desire_ you’re feeling? It’s not real. You must have touched my scrubs earlier. Remember the lecture you gave me on being _unkempt_ It’s all because of a very nefarious, passive-aggressive housewarming plant.”

He looked deep into her eyes. “You are very strange, and I have so many questions.”

She smirked and stepped back. “But we both have rounds. And you probably have high and mighty doctorly things you need to do.” Rey took a few more steps away from him, still looking like he was going to devour her, and she was genuinely concerned he might throw her over his shoulder and jump out the window and run off with her into the sunset.

Rey was even more concerned that he may not. 

“You’ll feel differently tomorrow,” she said, her voice deflated. It felt as if she’d gone up in a hot air balloon and right before she got to see the fabulous sunset, someone drop kicked her out of the basket. _You’re fucking this up,_ the little voice hissed. _What if he actually_ _doesn’_ _t_ _want you tomorrow? You know what they say “Strike now while the iron-like abs are hot”_

“I won’t.” He replied, still standing in the same place, arms now crossed over his sizeable pecs.

“You will, I promise. Once I shower this off, and you clear your head a bit, you’ll feel differently about me.”

Ben leaned his head back, banging it against the wall with a grunt. “Yes, please talk about you showering, that is immensely helpful Ms. Jakku.”

She smiled and pulled open the door, the cool air from the hallway punching her in the nose, clearing a bit more of the adrenaline and oxytocin. “I’ll start in the east end of the wing, that way you don’t have to…deal with me anymore tonight.”

Without waiting for a response, Rey shut the door and sped away, a trail of regret, embarrassment, and lust in her wake.

“Oh, we’ll be dealing with this soon enough,” his voice called after her.

***

Rey was not prepared for her shift. After arriving late, then being detained further with the elaborate display of tonsil hockey with her attending, she was behind schedule.

She quickly made her rounds, first prioritizing patients who needed to be given medications or have their fluids replaced in their IVs. Next, she replaced bandages, assisted in physical therapy and exercise laps around the hallway, and cleaned bedpans as needed.

Although she had knocked the remaining spores off her clothes after her encounter with Dr. Solo…Ben…there were still repercussions with any physical contact she made with others. An elderly patient, Wilhuff, was far grabbier than usual, despite recovering from triple bypass surgery. A woman who’d come in for stitches shouted at Rey for the technique she used to clean the wound, which by all accounts was completely standard and should have been painless with the sedative.

Rey had determined that the spores heighten existing emotions. Marcy was already upset about her being late and had lashed out. Poe Dameron had definitely flirted with her before but his emotions must have been amplified through contact with the spores. Wilhuff and angry stitches lady appeared to be experiencing their emotions through a megaphone.

So…would that mean Dr. Solo had already felt…?

“Nurse Jakku, a word?”

Rey jumped at the barked command coming from the doorway, dropping her clipboard, which clattered against her patient’s bed frame and fell to the floor.

“Could you _please_ be a little quieter?” The middle-aged woman in the bed said with a sneering glare.

“Yes, I’m sorry,” Rey said, reaching to hang the clipboard on the end of the bed for the next lucky attendant.

“Hey, manners.” Ben scolded, pointing a finger at his patient who smiled back sweetly.

“Of course, Dr. Solo.” She batted her eyes at him.

Rey walked quickly from the room, careful to sidestep Ben and avoid further contact.

“Hey, hey, wait,” Ben called from behind her. Despite walking quickly, Ben was able to catch up to her in a few steps. “Stop. I’ve figured this out.”

Rey stopped, turned, and looked up at him, fighting the urge to run her hands over his face and down his body. She glared at him, irritated that these stupid fungi must be doing something to her head as well.

“You’ve figured what out?” She managed.

“I have a brilliant plan. You’re going to love it.” His normally pouty lips quirked up in a smile.

Rey didn’t respond but crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, so we have…” he paused, pulling back his coat sleeve to look at this watch which cost more than seven months of Rey's rent. “Two hours left on our shift, and you’ve been surprisingly elusive for it. Honestly, if you decide on a career change I hear MI6 is hiring.”

Rey smirked. “Doctor Solo, I need to get back to my rounds. Today has been a nightmare already and I—”

“I know, okay. So, here’s the plan. You don’t think I’m going to want this after you shower off these alleged 'magic sex spores' and change your clothes, right?” Rey nodded, and he continued. “Well, if Mr. Wilhuff is any indication of how your commute home might be, I’m not super comfortable with you taking mass transit. So, when our shift ends, why don’t I drive you home?”

Rey shook her head, not at all enthusiastic about her walking, talking sexual fantasy seeing the hovel she was living in and barely making rent on. “It’s too far. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, new plan. You come to my place, which is four and a half minutes from here. You won’t get molested by angry housewives or horny men of all ages.” Ben’s hands reached out and squeezed her forearms, his thumbs tracing lazy circles on her skin, making body temperature spike. “Also, I have several showers to choose from, so we could test out your hypothesis.”

Rey’s mouth pressed to a thin line. She wanted to say yes but based on their earlier encounter, knew it would be a terrible idea.

 _Live a little,_ said the voice in her head. The voice had been rather loud since she’d left Rose’s house earlier today. _Go with him. He’s been kind. Plus, look at his pecs… No one with pecs like that could ever be a bore._

Shaking her head, Rey tried to dislodge the horny little voice that was now yelling at her to massage those perky glute muscles.

“Okay, I get it. You barely know me, and what you know of me is less than ideal,” Ben started, taking her head shake as dissent instead of the attempted porn removal. “I don’t want to pressure you, but let me know if you change your mind. There’s zero pressure. But we could have coffee and...talk.” When she didn’t reply, Ben dropped his hands and turned to walk away.

“Doctor….Ben,” Rey corrected mid-sentence, “Let’s do it.” When Ben quirked his brow, she stuttered, “Let’s go…to your house…and talk.”


End file.
